Daphne-9 Months

Health: She has been a little congested this month, but who hasn’t? I know I said last month that I thought she was teething, and I still feel that way. Other than a little fussiness with the congestion, she has been pretty good.

Diet: Amazingly, we are still going strong with the breastfeeding. I nurse her in the morning and before bed. Then she has two breastmilk bottles and one formula bottle during the day while I am at work. On the weekends, for the most part we avoid the formula and nurse the whole time. She seems to fight me more on the weekends though and generally only nurses for 5 minutes. I know she is getting more regular food, so I am not super worried about it. However it does affect my supply when I go back to work on Mondays. I do still pump once before she goes to bed every day to kee up with the two 5 oz bottles she has during the week. Usually, she has oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast, eggs and fruit for lunch, and then a sample of whatever we are having at dinner. She has tried all kinds of new things: kiwi, nectarines, beans, yogurt, plums, peas, pepers, zucchini, meatballs, and puffs. Move over mashed potatoes, her favorite food is yogurt. We are doing a baby led weaning approach, but she does purees when we give her packets. She is a really good eater! She eats actual meals now, and often eats more than George does.

Clothes: I just put away 3-6 month clothes today to transition her up to 6 months. She is in a size 3 diaper, and size 2 shoe.

Sleeping: This month she must be going through some sleep regression, or this teething has been hard if it’s that. She still does take two naps, but they are unpredictable in length. Sometimes they can be 2.5 hours, and other days they are only 30 minutes. Daph will go to bed around 8pm, and she has been waking up between 4 and 5 lately. This isn’t a huge deal on the weekend, but it severely affects me during the week. By the time I nurse her, I don’t have very much time before my alarm is supposed to go off. I am still getting about 6 hours, so in the scheme of baby parent sleep, it’s not so bad.

Likes: She LOVES to eat. Her favorite toys are still the Dory pez dispenser and the oogaa teether. We had to buy her a new Dory because she broke the first one. She loves to bounce. She will do it while you are holding her, in her high chair, in her activity seat, basically anywhere. She is starting to like her walker a lot more too. She still only likes the green newborn pacies. She adores her brother. She also is facinated by hair and wants to pull it all the time. She loves to be tipped upside down. Some of the best giggles are this way!

Dislikes: She does not like to sit still; this girl is always on the go. It is getting increasingly more difficult to take her picture. She is not really snuggly. She does not like getting her nose/face wiped.

Milestones: She is very good at pulling up on things now. She can stand on her own very briefly. She can get from sitting to crawling on her own. She is saying “Mama.” (For the record, George said Mama first too!)

Nicknames: Stinkerbug, Daphie, Daffodil, and Daphie Girl. The two most common are Daph and Sister.

Quirks: She is still pretty much unimpressed with most people. It will be interesting to watch this play out when she gets older. She likes to stick her thumb in the pacy and suck on both at the same time. She also whistles. I wish I could get it on camera, but of course she stops when I try.

We parents are: in need of a vacation. Tom has been on evening shift, which is the absolute worst for us as a family. It will be nice to have him back here soon and reconnect. Since my promotion, I have been putting in extra time at work because I am practically in meetings all day. Now I understand why a lot of directors work from home some. There just isn’t enough time in the week to get it all done. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely happy about the promotion. I am enjoying the new responsibilities and seeing things from a different perspective, but hopefully, maybe, they will start to even out where I have time to follow up on things in my office. We are hiring a new staff member soon, so that will definitely help lessen the load a bit. We got a treadmill this month, which has been life changing as far as my workout routines go. I am one of those weird people that loves treadmills. Put on a TV show and just hammer it out. I am slowly decluttering different rooms in the house, which has been really freeing to get done.

George is: such an amazing big brother. Most of the time he is really gentle with her, but he is getting a little bossy with her now that she is mobile. He is not so keen on her playing with whatever toy she can get her hands on which is usually one of his cars or little people. Normally he just starts tattling on her and tells me to move her away now. He still calls her his best friend and has to tuck her in at night, so I think the adoration is mutual. He is starting to pick out his own clothes, and dress himself completely. This is hilarious but also nails on the chalboard for me since they often don’t match and are put on the wrong way. Nothing tests your patience more than watching a toddler learn how to dress themselves…

The dogs are: loving the random days of warm weather. They just seem so much happier when they can get outside. They are also loving that Daph is eating more food. They are such good high chair cleaners!